After a two week break in the league action at the Oak Tree Arena, with the circuit hosting the PL Pairs and a sidecar meeting as the team rode on their Scottish tour, The Somerset ‘Sharp’ Rebels homecoming match was against the Stoke ‘Easy Rider’ Potters. The last time these two teams met at this venue the home side took a 6-point victory on the night, but eventually took all three points after Stoke were stripped of their ‘Rider Replacement’ points for an illegal use of the facility. With two precious away points in the bag from the tour to the North, the Rebels returned home with some confidence, and they showed that in their complete domination of the Potters, having said that the quality of the racing in this match was a joy to behold.

Despite the Rebels command of the fixture, they didn’t start in dominant fashion. In the opening heat Simon Walker made a fast start, but was soon joined on the outside by Jason Bunyan. The pair raced closely for two laps, until Bunyan swooped around the outside of the second bend on Lap 2 to grab the lead. From there on he pulled out a lead to take a share of the points, with Steve Johnston filling third place.

Tom Brown had a huge off in the away loss at Glasgow last Sunday, but he showed no ill effects as he bolted out of the gate to lead Heat 2. Justin Sedgmen made it a 5-1 at the opening turn, but was soon having to fend off Tom P Madsen, who grabbed second spot off the next bend. Sedgmen came back at Madsen with a wide run on the very next lap, but could not regain his place. Gareth Isherwood fell, remounted and then retired late in the race.

Heat 3 took three attempts to start; first Tony Steele called back the race after Klaus Jakobsen had made an early exit from the line. In the restart Lee Complin went down in a tight first bend taking a hefty fall, bringing down Nick Simmons in the process. It was a hard fall particularly for Complin, who was catapulted into the air, falling on a bike, and then having the second bike fall on him. Thankfully both riders emerged relatively unscathed. In the final attempt Emil Kramer got the better of Jakobsen in a close run to the bend, and then pulled clear to win with ease, as Complin took third to share the points.

Over the next three heats the Rebels put their foot on the accelerator and pulled out a 12-point lead by Heat6. Their first points came courtesy of an comfortable 5-1 in Heat 4, as Justin Sedgmen and Cory Gathercole made the best of a level break and pulled well clear from the first turn. A 4-2 advantage followed with Emil Kramer taking his second won on the bounce as Jason Bunyan was left motionless at the start when he dropped a chain. Jesper Kristiansen accounted for Simmonds to take second place. Kramer won with ease, despite having a little moment as he ran very wide in turn 2 on the final lap. The Rebels completed their purple patch with a second 5-1 in Heat 6 from their opening partnership. Simon Walker made a wide swoop around the opening turns to lead off the second bend, just as Steve Johnston was getting the upper hand on Phil Morris. Once in front the pair team rode home to a bloodless maximum.

The Potters wasted no time in sending out Lee Complin in the ‘Black and White’ in an attempt to cut their deficit. Complin made a poor start, but was saved when Tom Brown hit a rut, and fell on the second bend, skittling Klaus Jakobsen into the fence. Brown was excluded from the re-run, so it was left to Cory Gathercole to carry the Rebels flag. Gathercole bolted from the gate and despite a brief challenge in the back straight from Complin, won with some ease. With the demise of Brown the Potters did take the bulk of the points, 3-5.

There was a brief respite for the Potters as they shared the points in Heat 8, but it might have been a totally different story if Justin Sedgmen had managed to stay upright as the Rebels were roaring to a 5-1 at the end of the opening lap. Sedgmen appeared to lose grip, and slid gently to the ground, causing the race to be re-run without him. Once Simon Walker had dispensed with the Potters Danish pairing of Madsen and Kristiansen, blasting between them on the opening turn, he completely dominated the re-run to win unchallenged.

A brief respite was all it was as the Rebels hammered more nails into the Potters coffin taking the next two heats by the maximum advantage. Phil Morris must have know what was coming, as he tried to anticipate the start of Heat 9 only to be called back immediately. In the re-start he was no match for Emil Kramer’s power off the gates, and his tactic off trying to force Nick Simmons to the fence only delayed the inevitable for a lap. Simmons took Morris’s desperate attempts to block him in his stride, and a lap later he swooped around the outside of the quiz show king to completed a Rebels full house.

The Johnston/Walker pairing were again in the points as they aced Heat 10, but the score line belied a thrilling race for second place, between Johnston and Lee Complin. With Walker trapping quickly alongside Complin the race looked set for a battle between the pair. As Walker took the wide line to lead, Johnston cut inside the Potters man on the second turn, but couldn’t get his nose in front. As they set off on Lap 2 Johno took advantage of the gap Complin had left on the inside, and shot through before the Yorkshireman realised what had happened. Complin came roaring back, and the pair swapped places again, before Johnston eventually made an outside move stick to take the maximum in a breathtaking battle.

The Potters resorted to another tactical ride in Heat 11, with top man Jason Bunyan wearing the ‘magic hat’. Cory Gathercole and Tom Brown made a fast gate to thwart Bunyan, but he was never far away. Brown powered round Bunyan’s outside to make sure of second place, but the multiple New Zealand Champion is a hard man to shake off and he came with a forceful inside run to grab second spot at the start of Lap 2. He threw in a challenge to Gathercole on the next lap, but the Rebels man swiftly shut the door, and that was that. The end result was a 4-4 shared heat.

Before Heat 12 the Potters, strangely, announced changes for the next two heats. Gareth Isherwood was replaced in Heat 12 by Tom P Madsen, and then Isherwood himself replaced Phil Morris in Heat 13. It was a strange move as Isherwood had not troubled the scorer all night, so it can only be assumed that Morris, for some reason was not ‘up to the mark’. It might even form the basis for a quiz question in the future; you never know it might be one that Phil might answer himself.

The outcome of the changes was that the Potters took the advantage in Heat 12, with Klaus Jakobsen taking the win over Justin Sedgmen. Sedgmen threw in a challenge as he ran out in the dirt on the second bend, but Jakobsen held him off to take the heat. Behind them Nick Simmons was all over the back of Tom Madsen, but was unable to find a way around the uncomfortable looking Dane.

In Heat 13 the field broke level, and as they approached the first turn it was three abreast, with Jason Bunyan the meat in a Rebels sandwich. As Johno took the fast way around the inside, Cory Gathercole was chancing his arm on the very wide outside of Bunyan. It was a wide line to start with, but Bunyan made sure that if Gathercole was coming through, it would be the narrowest of gaps that he had to negotiate. Bunyan’s forceful riding paid dividends as he streaked away from Gathercole, who had eventually and wisely come out of the throttle. In the same move Bunyan was on Johnston, and swooped around his outside coming off the final bend of the lap to pull away to share the points.

Heat 14 was also shared when Emil Kramer powered around the outside of a fast starting Lee Complin on the second bend. Complin did his best to stay in touch with Somerset’s cool Swede, but Kramer had his number all the way. Behind them a good battle was raging between Brown and Madsen, but it was the Dane who made it pay to share the heat, despite Browns close attention for the duration of the race.

The nominated heat brought a repeat of Heat 13, with the inclusion of Lee Complin, instead of Isherwood. The result was a 2-4 to the Potters, as they made a great start to put themselves on a 5-1. Gathercole was close up, until he got a huge elbow from Bunyan on the opening bend. Johnston got the measure of Complin on the back straight to take second spot, and that was the way it stayed to the line.

In the end it was a commanding performance by the Rebels, but one that also provided the kind of racing the Oak Tree Arena has become famous for over the years, and the Potters contributed to that greatly. Had their top two had more support the end result may have been considerably closer.

For the Rebels Emil Kramer was superb, with a full four race maximum. He was backed up with good performance by the rest of the top end, in particular Simon Walker had another superb night, dropping only one point to an opponent. The reserves did their jobs with 10-points against the Potters 7+1 from Tom Madsen, and with some better luck they may have had a lot more. All in all a highly entertaining match to entertain the fans with, after a two week absence from league racing. The Rebels now head north again in an attempt to lift the Premier League Four Team tournament at Workington.